History of the Boone Family of Northeastern North Carolina from 1799
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History of the Boone Family of Northeastern North Carolina from 1799 Author’s Notes When I first wrote our family history in 1982 I barely scratched the surface. In 1994, based on information gathered over the preceding 12 years, I updated our history and documented the impact of the Boone family on the history of North Carolina, particularly on the development of the black Baptist church within the state. In 1995, that research led to the recognition of our ancestor, Lemuel Washington Boone, by the state of North Carolina with an historical marker. In 2009, I picked up where I left off nearly 15 years earlier and traced our lineage back one more generation. I discovered that Lemuel Washington Boone’s father, Lemuel Boon, was born in North Carolina in 1799 and lived in Northampton County before moving to Ohio in the mid-1800s. Since then I learned that Lemuel Boon was born in Virginia, most likely between 1770 and 1780. Most recently, and although I do not have definitive proof, I offer some suggestions on who Lemuel Boon’s father (or uncle) and grandfather may be. I’ve also added a complete genealogy for the first three generations of descendants of Lemuel Boon, courtesy of Michael- Lynn Hale. Michael-Lynn did an excellent job of documenting her sources should anyone decide to pick up where she left off. I continue to be indebted to the librarians and archivists at the Special Collections Library, Duke University; The Southern Historical Collection, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill; Elizabeth City State University; the North Carolina State Archives, Raleigh; the National Archives, Washington, DC; Professor John Bell, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC; and Paul Heinegg for their assistance in preparing this history. This research effort is dedicated to the late Philip D. Boone, the late Pierce Boone, and the late Pedro Boone, who with their stories about our family inspired me to want to learn more. While I have tried to be as thorough as possible, this history should in no way be considered complete. There is always more to research and learn. Derrick S. Boone, Sr. February 13, 2016 History of the Boone1 Family of Northeastern North Carolina The history of the Boone family of Northeastern North Carolina can be documented to 1799 and extends as far back as the Revolutionary War era. Historical profiles of the below family members are presented in the sections that follow: • Boon Family prior to 1799 • Lemuel Boon (1799 – after 1880) • Lemuel Washington Boone (1827 – 1878) • Calvin L. Boone (1857 – 1926) • Dr. Clinton C. Boone, Sr. (1872 – unknown) • Philip Lemuel Boone (1875 – unknown) • Dr. Rachel Boone Keith (1924 – 2007) The complete genealogy for the first three generations of descendants of Lemuel Boon follows the historical profiles. Selected historical photographs and reference documents are provided at the end. Boon Family Prior to 1799 Lemuel Boon is the oldest documented Boon ancestor. Census records indicate he was born in North Carolina in 1799, died in Ohio after 1880, and his parents were born in Virginia.2 Given typical marriage and childbearing ages, his parents were most likely born between 1770 and 1780. According to historian and genealogist Paul Heinegg, most of the free blacks in Virginia during the colonial and post-colonial periods, and their descendants:3 • Became free in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries before chattel slavery and racism fully developed in the United States. • Were descendants of a white indentured servant mother and a black slave, freed slave, or indentured servant father. • Very few free blacks descended from white slave owners who had children by their slaves, perhaps as low as one percent of the total. • White servant women continued to bear children by black fathers through the late seventeenth century and well into the eighteenth century. During the seventeenth and early- to mid-eighteenth centuries, most workers in America, both black and white, were indentured servants. Class distinctions were based on economic status (master/servant) more so than race, and it was not uncommon for slave, freed slave, and indentured black servants to “join the same households with white servants working, eating, sleeping, getting drunk, and running away together.”4 Not surprisingly, children were often the result of such “biracial camaraderie.”5 It’s likely that Lemuel, his father, or some other ancestor was the progeny of a mixed race common law marriage between a slave, free black, or black indentured servant father and a white indentured servant mother. 1 Until as late as the end of the eighteenth century, free blacks were accepted by the white community. Mixed race common law marriages among the servant class were common. As the tobacco economy grew and the need for cheap (i.e., free) labor began to rise, so did the notion that blacks were property. Racial contempt for free blacks started to develop as the number of white servants in similar circumstances began to decline. Seeking better lives and escape from growing racial tensions, free blacks and white servants newly released from indenture started to migrate to the “frontier” counties of southeastern Virginia and northeastern North Carolina. Here, land was available to anyone who could pay the taxes and was willing to brave the conditions. Whilst some North Carolina residents were complaining about the immigration of free African Americans, their white neighbors in Granville, Halifax, Hertford, and Northampton Counties welcomed them. Their neighbors may have been accustomed to living among free African Americans in Virginia; they may have moved from Virginia in company with them; or perhaps they were drawn together by the adversities of the frontier. Neighbor depended heavily upon neighbor, and whites may have been more concerned with hostile Indians and harsh living conditions than they were with their neighbors’ color. 6 In his research on free families of color, Heinegg notes most of the free blacks in North Carolina named Boon:7 • Migrated from Isle of Wight County and Nansemond County in Virginia and settled in Hertford, Gates, Northampton, Bertie, and Halifax counties in North Carolina. • Very few free person of color families originated in North Carolina. Unlike Virginia, North Carolina had strict laws against emancipation, which required legislative approval. • Geographic proximity made it easy for families to frequently relocate from one surrounding county to another. • Lemuel’s parents were born in Virginia. It’s unlikely he’s a descendent of the Boon family from Bertie County, who migrated much earlier, making it less likely subsequent generations would have been born in Virginia. 2 By process of elimination, 1820 census records indicate Lemuel may be a descendant of Moses Boon (born before 1776), head of a Gates County household with one “free colored” male 14 to 26 years old, or Elias Boon (born before 1776), head of a Halifax County household with two “free colored” males 14 to 26 years old. Moses and Elias Boon are the only free black heads of household who reside in appropriate counties, are of appropriate ages to be Lemuel’s father (or uncle), and have at least one child in the same age bracket as Lemuel. Both Moses and Elias are descendants of James Boon, a “Mixt. Blood” taxable in Hertford County in 1770, born in 1745.8 It should be noted that no definitive link exists between Lemuel, Moses, or Elias. The relationships represent possibilities based on research and available information to date. As additional sources become available, more research needs to be done to investigate these and other possible familial relationships. 3 Lemuel Boon (1799 – after 1880) An initial search of historical records found a Lamb Boone listed as the paternal grandfather of Philip Lemuel Boone, the twelfth child of Lemuel Washington (1827 – 1878) and Charlotte A. Chavis (1838 – 1913) Boon.9 Given typical marriage and fatherhood ages during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and Lemuel Washington’s birth year, Lamb Boon was most likely born around 1800.10 Naming patterns, geographic residences, racial designations, age differences, and other records support that Lamb Boone is the Lemuel Boon listed in the 1840 census as the head of family of ten free colored persons residing in Northampton County, NC.11,12,13,14 Lemuel Boon was born in North Carolina in 1799. On January 6, 1824, 25 year old Lemuel married Fanny Hurn, who at the time of their marriage would have been about 20 years old.15,16,17,18 On January 23, 1839, 40 year old Lemuel married his second wife, 21 year old Mary (Polly) Artis, born about 1810.19,20 In 1840, Lemuel Boon was the head of a family of 10 free colored persons residing in Northampton County, NC:21 • One male under 10 years old (born 1830 – 1840) • Two males 10 to under 24 years old (born 1816 – 1830) • One male 36 to under 55 years old (born 1785 – 1804) • Four females under 10 years old (born 1830 – 1840) • Two females 24 to under 36 years old (born 1804 – 1816) The identities of the youngest male and one of the females born between 1830 and 1840 are unknown.22 The two males born between 1816 and 1830 are Lemuel Washington (1827) and Shadrack (1829).23 The oldest male is Lemuel (1799). Three of the four females born between 5 1830 and 1840 are Sally (born about 1832), Eliza (born about 1833), and Louisa (born about 1839). One of the two females born between 1804 and 1816 is Fanny. The identity of the remaining female is unknown. In the 1850 census, Lemuel is listed as a 51 year old male mulatto farmer who along with his 40 year old mulatto wife Mary and their six mulatto children is living in Northampton County.24 Mary is the stepmother of three of the children: Sally, Eliza, and Louisa.